Four hours later you’re slumped over your computer, brain scrambled and eyes glazed over. Even worse, your path to success isn’t any clearer and you’re down a couple hundred bucks.

Time to admit you have a problem. You need a tour guide to help you trudge through the vast wasteland that is the internet. Allow me to assist. I’d like to show you how to get your feet wet in this community without overwhelming your brain, your inbox or your wallet.

And chill out with the clicking—time’s a ticking!

The good news

There is nothing quite like the freelance blogging community. Never in all of my job-related experiences have I encountered a community of mentors so hell-bent on my success.

Not only do they want us to succeed, they invite us to connect with them, ask questions and allow them to guide us. Everywhere I turn there’s a wealth of resources waiting to be absorbed and implemented into my freelance blogging journey.

The downside is that we are often limited in the time we can spend furthering our knowledge and making new connections. We have to actually write at some point, right?

Here are a few pieces of advice to make your journey a little less painful and time consuming.

Choose your main hangouts

Start with one well-written, trustworthy blog about freelance writing and blogging. Here are a few signs that a particular writing blog will be helpful and trustworthy:

Most good writing blogs will have suggested posts for you to start with, which makes things easier. Take your time on this site, and learn all you can from it before moving on. This site should lead you to other high-quality blogs either through guest posts by other authors or recommendations within posts.

When you are ready to branch out, start by exploring at least one or two other blogs about freelancing. Widen your horizons by checking out marketing or business blogs and explore other relevant niches such as creativity, inspiration and lifestyle. Trust me, you’ll want a go-to blog when you’re feeling defeated and need a pick-me-up.

Plant networking seeds

This is where you crush your social anxiety before it has the chance to surface. In the blogging business, you simply cannot be a silent observer and learner; you must interact and engage in the community. Raw talent will only get you so far — the relationships you build will take you the next level.

Start by sending a personal email to the author of each of your main hangout blogs. First, make sure you’ve thoroughly read and absorbed all of what they have to offer and can show that you’re a true fan. If you read a great guest post, email that person as well. Frame the email like this:

Introduction: Introduce yourself and state your mission.

Thanks: Show a genuine appreciation for their work. Give one example of how something they’ve written has helped you.

Questions: These are optional but are always beneficial. Ask one or two well-thought-out questions. Theseshould be queries you are genuinely curious about and feel will benefit you on your journey. They’ll most likely be questions related to how they got where they are. Examples:

“What was the biggest obstacle you faced when you started blogging?”

“As a writer, how did you overcome self-doubt?”

Tip: Make sure the answers to the questions can’t be found on their blog.

Next you’ll want to stay active in the comments sections of their posts, and if they have community forums, join them. Make sure your comments are always genuine and thoughtful.

A note about social networking: yes… do that. I won’t go into detail about how to do it because there are plenty of posts out there to guide you. Choose three of the most popular social networks (I recommend Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for starters) and master them before joining any others.

Spend your money wisely and sparingly

Take the time to assess where you’re at in your journey and determine your basic needs. For example, there shouldn’t be an immediate need to purchase any expensive training videos or software before you have read the free information available. Here are some basic financial guidelines for beginner bloggers:

Smart Spending Choices:

Save for the Future:

Expensive “boot-camps” and “masterclasses”

Super expensive themes, or hiring a designer for your website

Costly subscriptions to job boards — use free boards like this one instead

Pace yourself

It’s easy to get pumped about all of the awesome, useful information available to us as new bloggers. However, it’s important to remember that information burnout is a very real thing, and it can happen to you!

You can’t possibly subscribe to every great blog, attend every webinar and read every e-book. When you find yourself feeling overwhelmed (or when you sleep, all you dream about is blogging) take a break for a day or two.

Have a “screen-free” day where you break out the old pen and paper and journal to reflect on your progress. Go outside in nature and set your mind free to wander and become inspired.

Above all, never forget to practice your love, your passion, the thing that brought you here in the first place — your writing.

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About Ivy Shelden

Ivy is a freelance writer and motivator of creative minds. You can find more of her work at www.thewideopenmind.com.

Comments

Chill out with the clicking-time’s a ticking!
Ha ha!!! That is so true and so much one of my downfalls! I have to put that on a post it and stick it to my monitor.

Second takeaway…I’m going to email Sophie to thank her for her FREE Ultimate List of Better Paid Blogging Gigs. I’ll admit when I first downloaded it weeks ago I gave it a quick glance and thought the suggested sites were way out of my league.

I went back to it 3 days ago when I discovered my days might be numbered at my day job. Yikes! Time to kick my fledgling freelance blogging biz in high gear.

I picked a site to pitch, studied the submission page, quickly wrote an article to fit their audience and emailed it. Today (just 3 days later!) I received the approval and it’s going to be published!

Thank you Sophie! And thank you Ivy for the additional kick in the pants I need to keep at this. Great post!

Sylvia,
Congrats on getting your article published! My days are numbered at my job as well, since I am having a baby in October! Paying for 2 kids in daycare is not an option, so I have to get this blogging thing going! I am definitely going to revisit Sophie’s list very soon!!

I have a tendency to be click-happy too, and sometimes I get so wrapped up in studying blogging I forget I need to write and pitch!

Ivy,
Hello, my name is Cherese Cobb; I am new the freelancing world. I have written one article published at ServingJoy. I have also submitted about three dozen poems to different magazines, and I am waiting to hear back. Thank you for your article. I spend way too much time “clicking” and studying instead of writing (I am going to kick it into gear). I will continue to follow this blog. It happens to be my favorite! Congrats on your baby!

Cherese,
I often forget that writing is the most important thing I can do to improve the quality of my work! Congrats on your publication, sounds like you are doing great and keeping it moving with your submissions! The courage to submit work for publication is something a lot of writers (including myself) struggle with. Also, if you don’t have one yet, you should start your own blog featuring your poetry!

And I agree, BAFB is the best! It is so down to earth and helpful–perfect for newbies like us! Thank you for reading! 🙂

Some writers think that they need to spend a lot of money to buy an expensive course after course because they think it’s their ticket to success. But you’re right, these trainings should be labeled as “Save for the Future.” And at some point I almost fell on this trap.

And your point about information overload is so true! I’ve read a LOT of blogs and eBooks that I almost forgot how to take action.

I love the baby steps BAFB lays down without the pressure to keep up with other successful writers.

Joy,
We are lucky to have so many resources available to us as freelancers, but they can get overwhelming if we don’t have a plan! I definitely got a little lost and off course when I first started learning, so I figured a guide was in order!

Hello Ivy,
Great post I do a lot clicking away too and get distracted I overcame by setting schedules and sticking to it. I also recommend making notes and having a to-do list, you can tick off what you’ve done and add new stuff too making easy to monitor your progress.

Hello Ivy,
Great post – exactly what I needed to hear today. As a newbie, I definitely fell into the trap of studying the writing instead of well… actually writing.
I’ll be using your advice and reaching out to client sometime in the near future, just gotta get some clips first!
Thanks, really well done.

Hi Jake!
I am so glad this guide served you well. I only have a few clips myself so far, and this will be the best one yet. Remember you can always start your own blog if you haven’t already. That way you can showcase your work right away!

This is excellent advice. Other freelancers are always willing to share what they’ve learned, and even when you think you know “it all,” there is always something that can be learned from reading others’ posts, listening to their perspectives, and hearing about their successes.

I guess that’s why I stick around and read Sophie’s blog. 😉 (Even if I don’t always comment, I’m here…)

Lorraine,
Isn’t it awesome?? I find myself amazed every day at how approachable other successful bloggers are, and how much they care about helping us. Its so nice to hear from those that have been there and have wisdom to share.

Great tips, Ivy. I often find that in my excitement to learn about the business that I’ve wasted more time than anticipated on writer communities and blogs. This is one more reminder that I should be writing…. like right now…

Ivy, you couldn’t have said it (asked it?) better! When I was first starting out I read and read like a psycho trying to absorb as much as I could but after a while my reading list whittled down to a handful of insanely cool and informative bloggers where I could learn but also interact. That kept my networking time to a minimum but really focused. Then that opened the door to having more hours available to write!

And I’ve met so many amazing people along the way that I’ve helped and who have helped me too. You’re right, this community seriously rocks 🙂

Jenn,
I have found myself becoming too involved in the learning process, and sometimes using it as an excuse to put off writing! I am glad you were able to narrow down your list of top bloggers, that’s where I ended up as well (although it took a while…thus the need for this post). Keep up the good work!

Great advice, Ivy. There are some fantastic tips in this article, and I think it really needed to be written; there’s so much helpful information out there that it’s very easy to keep reading well past the time when you should really just dive in and start blogging!

Thank you, Ivy. One thing I also think that is really important for freelance writers is to really look around the website they want to guest blog at. A few days ago, I wrote an article for Listverse on 25 Quotes by Anias Nin, which wasn’t what they were looking for at all. I guess we all get excited, but “clicking” around can be helpful sometimes.

I am thinking of starting a blog on poetry, perhaps featuring the bios and works of ancient and modern poets, as well as, making my own literary E-magazine. For some reason, publications don’t count posting on Twitter or Facebook as publishing. They do count posting it on your blog.

Cherese,
I totally agree, I think exploring the site you want to post on is pretty much a cardinal rule! But you truly never know what they are looking for until you pitch them.

I would love to see your blog when you get it up. Poetry is something I have never been good at writing (unless it’s completely humorous), but I do like to read it and have much respect for the art! Good luck and feel free to connect with me any time so I can help support your work. 🙂

Ivy,
I bet you are a better poet than you know! Humor is essential to life 🙂

Do you ever have trouble finding your writing voice? I do. When I write non-fiction it tends to be a mix of literal with figurative language. I have a hard time being funny. I also have a trouble editing my “jargonal” tone. Any advice?

Hi Cherese! Sorry it took me a few days to respond, I have been out of town. Send me your email address or email me at [email protected] if you would like to talk outside of this message board, that way I can respond faster. I have still been working on my writing voice, but I do have some resources in mind that I’ve used! Just email me and I will send you the links! Thanks! 🙂

This was truly excellent advice! Since the very “numbered” days of my day job already ran out, I have no choice but to step up my game. I offer another service so I’m concentrating on building my first site for that at the moment. But when that’s under way, my blog is the next big thing, the really big thing, I want to accomplish.

There are some really solid points in this article. The one that speaks to me the most is reaching out to other bloggers. I always feel as if I’m bothering someone, but so far, I’ve seen some very positive people. Great article! I hope you find continued success!

Hi Ivy,
I had to lol at myself when I read your opening lines.
That’s EXACTLY what I’ve been doing!
Except, I’ve been doing it for a couple of weeks now. Yeah, yeah, I KNOW!
I think I have managed to sign up for every newsletter that even remotely concerned writing of any kind…and there are some good ones out there, at least I think so with all my newbie insight, lol.
I’ve managed to learn a LOT, plus I now have more bookmarks than I’ll EVER go back to and several notepads full of links as well.
Can you say information overload?
I’ve really never written much unless you want to count a few poems in my teen years and a few essays that I got top grades on in highschool. Oh and then there were emails to the members of my websites (back when I HAD websites) …and now that I think about it, well, yes, I HAVE done some writing!

OKOK, TMI

But I DO want to say that this is the first time I’ve commented on any of the articles I’ve read and THAT, in itself, taught me something. You reached out to me right where I live…and THAT is what we are all aiming for, right?
I’ll be following you around, Miss Ivy (or is it Mrs.?) like a little puppy follows its’ master. Because I DO want to be a writer, blogger, that person to go to when you need something done and done well, and you seem to have that down pat!
And btw, I’m pretty much introverted myself…and love it 🙂

Hi Rebecca! Thanks so much for your kind words, they really made my day! Sorry it took me a while to reply, I literally just had a baby and got out of the hospital!

I am really just a humble newbie blogger myself, and have been studying it for about a year now. I really felt I needed to share what I had learned so I could help others and save them some much needed time!
One extra piece of advice I would give is to write as much as you can! For a while I think I had a fear of writing (weird, huh since i’m a writer and all). But a few months ago I started what I call free writing, meaning I just sit down with a word document and just let my thoughts flow out every day, sort of like a journal but more for my creative ideas. I don’t pressure myself at all to write well or even grammatically correct, so it feels really good to not worry about being judged. I have found that I come up with some great ideas this way and it helps me overcome my fears!
Thanks again for reading my article, and please feel free to email me anytime at [email protected].

Great article, Ivy! I literally just experienced the blogging information overload last night – it was super depressing. But now I feel like I have a map to follow through all of the awesome info out there. THANK YOU! 🙂

Brilliant article 🙂
Love where you describe that you can spend literally hours (days? weeks?) doing research on the internet and find that your brain ends up like mush!
I am going to look into getting a few professional photos done to enhance my site.

Thanks Ivy!
I am pretty new to blogging (started my site in January) and have found myself utterly overwhelmed by the sheer number of sites offering what they profess to be time-saving hints and tricks. But having come across BAFB early on I know that I’ll sticking to it for worthwhile and constructive tips.
You’re article is totally spot on 🙂
Thanks again

This is absolutely brilliant… thank you so much Ivy, I just started entertaining the idea of being a freelance blogger, and posts such as this one are exactly what I require. I will so stick with your guide, love it love it love it.

Hi Ivy,
I am new to the blogging world. I want to write about travel, food and cultures. I have just left full-time teaching, and I am earnest about getting some writing work. I have lived in or traveled to 34 countries. I have the ideas and the content, but I am totally at sea about how to begin. I really appreciate your site and your remarks. I will be reading more. Thanks for your help.

What a lifesaver! That might sound hyperbolic, but I found this post while at my lowest point — just so overwhelmed with trying to learn everything there is to know about being successful as a freelance writer that I haven’t been able to write much of my own lately. This post is brilliant and exactly what I need right now. Thank you!

Thanks for the post, Ivy! I’m new to blogging in general and find myself reading and learning more then actually writing. I started a blog a while ago but only have a few post on it. Not sure if it’s the niche that I should be in. I’m sure I’ll find my niche though. Anyway, I really enjoyed the post and it was what I needed to get myself going. I just discovered BAFB and so far I like the way the community is. I’ll definitely be coming back more often. Thanks to Sophie for the community and the community itself.

I have been freelancing as a writer for a while amongst other things but do want to set up my business as a freelance writer, blogger and content writer and reading this article gives me some idea on how to start and market myself without losing my mind.

Have you been monitoring my internet browser history?? Haha! Seriously, I know this was written a couple years ago now, but I was struck with how well this describes me. The problem with this mass consumption of everything-to-do-with freelance writing is you get discouraged and overwhelmed repeatedly before ever taking action. I need to just DO. Thanks for the much needed kick in the pants!

Thanks a million for the post. It is a definite eye opener and an encouraging piece of work.

As a mini hawk eye reader (and aspiring blogger/proof reader) i noted that under the “Plant networking seeds” heading on the bullet under questions; the second line has a typo, reading Theseshould be queries (instead of These should be queries).

Continue with the informative and inspiring stuff you write and post, i will definitely be amongst the readers.